Egypt pumps toxic gas into Gaza tunnel, three Palestinians dead – report

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021 07:42

Three Palestinians died on Thursday as the Egyptian military pumped toxic gas into a smuggling tunnel, Palestinian media reported.

The tunnel stretches from the Gaza Strip to the Sinai peninsula.

In 2019, two Palestinians died and several others wounded after Egyptian troops pumped toxic fumes into a smuggling tunnel stretching into the Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip. In February 2017, three Palestinians were killed in a tunnel between Gaza and Sinai in similar circumstances.

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Egypt has destroyed more than 3,000 tunnels along its border with the Gaza Strip in the past six years, Egyptian Army Spokesperson Tamer Al-Refai said in 2020.

“In 2015, the [Egyptian] government took a decision to establish a buffer zone along the border [with the Gaza Strip]. These tunnels were used to threaten Egypt’s national security, including the infiltration of terrorists, smuggling of weapons, ammunition, goods, narcotic drugs and vehicles. We established the buffer zone in stages because residents had to be relocated. They have received compensation,” he said in an interview given to Egyptian news channel Extra News in 2020.

The Egyptian security forces were continuing their “heroic actions to defeat terrorists” in the Sinai Peninsula, he said, adding that 126 terrorists were killed during the recent military operation there.